Students in Tifton plan peace rally

Some students in Tifton are worried that violence is taking over their city. They're taking a stand against crime with a peace rally.

After a couple of murders and other shootings this year in Tift County, some middle school students say enough is enough. They plan to go public with their statement against violence.

7th graders at Eighth Street Middle School want others in their community to know they're no longer accepting violence as an answer.

"Because it's too much violence in Tifton and I want everybody else who's younger to be safer. I want the people who are killing other people to suffer the consequences,' said Dajon Custis.

Dajon Custis came up with the idea of the student-led peace rally and has the full support of his school. Students say violence is not the answer and they want a safe environment at school and in their neighborhoods.

"There still little kids growing up around this violence and if they grown up, they'll think it's the right thing to do. And then they'll start doing this kind of stuff and it's keeps growing and growing," said Aboubacar Coulibaly.

The 7th graders say they have just as much influence as anybody else to help stop the growing problem. They feel the violence is too close to home for them to feel safe.

"Not even a couple years back, you see how much its escalated. I live down by the hospital where they had the shooting the other day. It's pretty scary," said Hunter McClendon.

"Once people see, how wrong this stuff is maybe they will change their point of view about things, about life," said Amaya Solomon.

The students are confident that the peace rally will help bring awareness to Tifton.

Later this week, the students will be making the banners and signs to display at the peace rally.

They're also asking for the help of the community to spread the word about the peace rally.

There will be four peace rallies throughout the school day starting at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday. About 600 students are expected to rally in front of Eighth Street Middle School.